Senate vote dashes hopes for immigration measure

By Jonathan WeismanWashington Post

Posted:
06/29/2007 01:31:04 AM PDT

Updated:
06/29/2007 01:31:06 AM PDT

WASHINGTON - When the most dramatic overhaul of the nation's immigration laws in a generation was crushed Thursday in the Senate, little hope was left for a resolution anytime soon of one of the most difficult issues facing the nation.

The 46-53 tally fell dramatically short of the 60 votes needed to overcome opponents' delaying tactics and parliamentary maneuvers that have dogged the bill for weeks. With no way to cut off debate, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., pulled the bill from the Senate floor for the second time this month, and this time, it is not likely to come up before a new president comes to power.

"Legal immigration is one of the top concerns of the American people, and Con gress' failure to act on it is a disappointment," said President Bush, who has pushed a comprehensive reworking of immigration laws since he came to Washington. "A lot of us worked hard to see if we couldn't find a common ground - it didn't work."

The bill would have coupled tough border enforcement measures and a crackdown on employers of illegal immigrants with a pathway to citizenship for 12 million illegal immigrants, a new guest-worker system for foreigners seeking entry and dramatic changes to the system of legal migration. A dozen senators spent nearly six months hammering out a 761-page bill with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez.

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Chertoff said the administration would continue trying to enforce existing immigration laws, building border fences and beefing up border patrols. But, he said, without the additional resources in the bill and its much more stringent system to verify the legality of job applicants, the current flood of illegal immigration is not likely to recede. Employers will still have no real way to unmask undocumented job applicants. Texas ranchers will continue to protest efforts to build fences on their land, and Arizonans will continue to try to block radar towers, he warned.

Chertoff angrily dismissed critics, especially conservatives, who said they could not support the bill until the administration shows it can enforce the laws on the books, accusing them of saying, "We need better weapons, but we'll give you the weapons after you win the war."

"The American people don't have faith in their government's ability to win a war, enforce border security, or even process passport requests," said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz., one of the bill's sponsors.

Rarely does a legislative fight get as emotional as the battle over immigration. A flood of angry phone calls from the bill's opponents shut down the Capitol switchboard ahead of the vote, overwhelming the message from a small group of immigrant-rights demonstrators urging passage outside the Capitol. Latino lawmakers from the House flooded onto the Senate floor to encourage the Senate to keep the legislation alive and let the House have a turn.

Opponents of the bill painted the fight as a battle between the people of the United States against a government that has grown insensitive to an illegal-immigrant invasion that threatens the fabric of the nation. Proponents said the Senate had succumbed to the angry voices of hate, venom and racism.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., one of the bill's main architects, compared the fight to the Senate's long struggle for civil rights legislation against segregationist opponents.

"You cannot stop the march for progress in the United States," he declared.

To that, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., among the bill's most aggressive foes, snapped, "to suggest this was about racism is the height of ugliness and arrogance."

In truth, opposition to the bill was far more complex than proponents were letting on. In crafting a delicate compromise, the bill's 12 architects created a measure that was reviled by foes of illegal immigration, opposed by most labor unions and unloved by immigration advocates. Opposition came not only from talk radio hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Michael Savage, but from the American Civil Liberties Union and the AFL-CIO.

The outcome was a major blow to Bush, dealt largely by members of his own party. The president made a last-ditch round of phone calls in the morning in an attempt to rescue the bill, but with his poll numbers at record lows, his appeals proved fruitless. Thirty-seven Republicans voted to sustain the filibuster, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., along with 15 Democrats and Sen. Bernie Sanders, a liberal independent from Vermont. Thirty-three Democrats, 12 Republicans and independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut voted to cut off debate and move to a final vote.

With such a resounding defeat, Bush lost what is likely to be the last, best chance at a major domestic accomplishment for his second term.

"You get up to the plate, you take a whiff, and you strike out. What happened today was pretty final," said Sen. Mel Martinez, R-Fla., one of the architects of the defeated legislation.

Republicans on both sides acknowledged the immigration fight had riven the GOP. Republican Senate aides, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were divulging internal deliberations, said Senate Minority Whip Trent Lott, R-Miss., was furious with McConnell over the leader's refusal to confront the bill's most implacable opponents, who had virtually commandeered the Senate floor, blocking the introduction of amendments, refusing to offer amendments of their own, then complaining that an unfair process was preventing them from improving the bill.

Lott told McConnell that Sens. Vitter, Jim DeMint, R-S.C., and Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., were becoming the uncompromising faces of the Republican Party, a prospect that could set them back for years as the Latino vote grows in power.